CMESD 05

Chapter 5

I Won’t Help You, Your Grace

I knew it.

I stared blankly up at the man standing right in front of the front gates. The moment I saw him arrive at the Preston Grand Duchy, I had a sneaking suspicion he would show up here.

Though I didn’t expect him to get here quite this fast.

Deep, vivid Preston blue eyes—sharper and more piercing than Luna’s—locked steadily onto me. It was a look of quiet appraisal, as if he were trying to read my thoughts. After a brief silence, he spoke first, his tone polite and formal.

“It’s been a while, Lady Milton.”

“Ah. Yes. It’s been… a long time.”

“Half a year?”

“No… it’s been exactly ten months today.”

That was around the time I had sent him a dispatch asking if there was any way to extend the contract. Since I had been on edge every single time news arrived from the Eastern front each month ever since, I was entirely certain of the date.

“I suppose I lost track of time.”

Liam murmured, a single eyebrow furrowing slightly.

Lost track of time? How on earth could you lose track of that?

Perhaps misinterpreting the expression on my face, Liam offered a somewhat awkward excuse.

“I apologize for showing up without an appointment. Given the nature of the situation, my urgency got the better of me and I acted rather rudely.”

“It’s fine. Would you like to step inside?”

“Luna is—”

Abruptly cutting to the chase, Liam caught himself and snapped his mouth shut with a mortified expression.

Understanding his plight, I offered a reassuring word.

“Luna is currently in the middle of Madame Dubois’s lesson. Would you care for a cup of tea while you wait?”

“Madame Dubois… Ah. I remember. The etiquette tutor, was it?”

“She teaches everything from basic etiquette to general foreign languages.”

“Then I’ll wait.”

At those words, Jade popped his head out abruptly from behind Liam.

“Good to see you again, Lady Milton. Ah. No, wait. I suppose I should call you Viscount now, shouldn’t I?”

The tension melting away at the sight of Jade, I let out a soft laugh.

“Please, call me comfortably, My Lord Count.”

“Then shall we drop the titles and call each other by our given names, Isabella?”

Taken aback by his unhesitating familiarity, my eyes widened for a split second, before I decided it was entirely typical of Jade.

After all, outside of Liam, he was the only person who truly knew I had never been a real Grand Duchess.

“If you insist, Jade.”

Liam arched a single eyebrow. He looked inexplicably displeased.

Could it be that he hated the sight of me acting overly friendly with his attorney?

There wasn’t a single clause in the contract forbidding me from making friends, so I should be fine.

With the tension evaporating, my mood grew significantly lighter as I led the two of them into the manor.

“Good heavens.”

The moment they stepped foot inside the foyer, Jade let out a short gasp of disbelief. Liam’s expression wasn’t all that different.

Liam instantly whipped around to glare at Jade. Gare would probably be too mild a word; it was a full-on murderous stare. Under that sharp, cutting gaze, Jade hastily launched into a desperate defense.

“I told the head butler to handle it! I rode straight for Eastern the moment Isabella signed the divorce papers, so how on earth was I supposed to know the manor was in this state?!”

Feeling a sudden twinge of guilt at Jade’s genuinely pathetic self-defense, I stepped in between them.

• “Jade is right. Bill told me this house had been vacant for too long and needed repairs, but I turned him down.”*

“Why?”

Liam asked me, his face a mask of utter incomprehension. If anything, his reaction was the one I couldn’t comprehend.

“We aren’t going to be staying here for very long anyway, so there’s no need to go to all that trouble, and besides…”

By this point, even Jade was looking at me as if I had completely lost my mind. Feeling as though I was suddenly forced into a corner to justify myself, I pressed on.

“To be frank, if living here is too comfortable, wouldn’t it make it much harder to convince Luna to leave?”

“Ah. Aaaaah!”

Only then did Jade nod in sudden, resounding enlightenment.

“Ah, of course. That makes sense. She has to believe her life at Preston was infinitely happier for her to ever feel the urge to return. Well, well, I completely missed that angle. Brilliant thinking, Isabella, enduring this level of hardship purely for the child’s sake. Right, Liam?”

“…Even so, going this far seems excessive. And dangerous, to boot.”

Liam muttered, still looking thoroughly disgruntled. His gaze lingered on the creaking floorboards and the missing wooden slat on the staircase banister. I felt a slight surge of embarrassment.

Dangerous to boot?

Granted, it couldn’t possibly hold a candle to the Preston Grand Duchy, but even factoring that in, the manor was perfectly fine.

It was old, yes, but its foundational structure was solidly built, and all the furniture was crafted from top-tier hardwood.

The floorboards might creak, but they weren’t rotting away, and Luna was hardly young enough to tumble through a gap in the railing.

Overall, the estate was in remarkably decent shape. Sticking to my initial assessment, I tilted my head in confusion.

“This is more than comfortable enough.”

“…Was your treatment at Preston genuinely that atrocious?”

Realizing a beat too late what he was implying, I waved my hands frantically to deny it.

“No, absolutely not! Everyone treated me wonderfully.”

“Then why on earth…”

Liam stared at the staircase railing and a stray cobweb we hadn’t gotten around to sweeping yet with an expression of profound bafflement.

Feeling a sudden flush creeping up my neck, I offered a hurried excuse.

“Fixing the railing might be tricky, but I’ll clear away the cobwebs soon. We only just moved in, after all.”

“You’re going to clear them away yourself?”

“Yes.”

As I guided the two of them toward the parlor, a quiet certainty settled in my mind.

This man could never, ever survive living here.

If he’s spent all this time distinguishing himself on the battlefield, shouldn’t he at least be able to tolerate a little dust?

Or perhaps, once you reach the rank of Admiral rather than a mere foot soldier, you live your entire life in spotless, dust-free vacuum chambers even in the middle of a war zone?

Stepping into the parlor, Liam’s expression grew even graker.

…Do Admirals follow the latest high-society interior design trends right on the front lines?

Aside from the slightly faded rug and the slightly dated paintings hanging on the walls, the parlor was entirely faultless.

Not a single cobweb in sight.

Glancing around, I gestured for the two men—who were still standing rigidly without any intention of sitting—to take a seat, and said:

“Would you mind waiting just a moment? I’ll go brew some tea.”

“You?”

At Liam’s stunned question, I paused mid-step, thoroughly taken aback.

Just how pampered of a life has this man led, really?

“Yes. Right now, it’s just Luna and me living here.”

“Just the two of you, living here?”

“Yes.”

With that reply, I had to bite the inside of my cheek hard to keep from laughing out loud at the look on Liam’s face.

“It’s just Luna and me, so there’s not all that much heavy lifting to do, and the security detail provided by Preston takes care of the heavy lifting anyway, so we’re completely fine.”

Having said that, I suddenly realized that what Liam was finding incomprehensible probably had nothing to do with household chores.

I hastily added:

“I’m making sure Luna wants for absolutely nothing, of course.”

Liam closed his mouth, wearing the expression of a man who had no earthly idea how to respond. Feeling suddenly as though I had taken in the Grand Duke’s precious, sole heir only to subject her to a life of squalor, I rushed to defend myself again.

“And like I said earlier, if living here isn’t at least a little bit uncomfortable, how is Luna ever going to want to return to her real home?”

“Is that why you’re refusing to hire domestic staff?”

“Well, that’s certainly part of it.”

I pitched my voice to be as gently patient as possible, speaking to a man who would likely never comprehend how an impoverished noble family actually survived day-to-day.

“So could you please just wait a moment?”

For some inexplicable reason, I was beginning to find this entire situation thoroughly amusing.

Amusing, my foot!

“So you’re telling me you intend to take Luna back immediately?”

“Is there any reason to delay?”

“Have you even stopped to think about why Luna insisted on following me out?”

“Obviously, because she’s grown attached to you. But Luna is the heir to the House of Preston.”

I was struck completely speechless for a moment, staring blankly at Liam.

“Your Grace—no, Liam. Speaking as someone who has watched over Luna for the past three years, let me ask you just one thing. Is that the only reason you want to take her back? Because she has to become the Grand Duchess of Preston?”

Liam’s brow narrowed.

“What other reason could possibly be required?”

“That’s the exact question I want to ask you. What more do you think is required to take Luna away?”

Straightening my spine, I pressed my hands tightly together over my lap. The table was high enough that he wouldn’t be able to tell how terribly nervous I actually was from across the room.

What good is any of this doing? At the end of the day, the undeniable fact remained that Preston was the best possible environment for Luna, and no matter what I said, Liam’s rigid mindset was never going to change.

Even so.

“Liam is always, always, always away doing important things far, far away. He doesn’t love Luna, and he never stays with Luna, so why on earth is Liam Luna’s dad?”

Luna’s face kept flashing before my eyes.

“If you don’t even understand what that means, then you have no right to take Luna away, and I have no intention of cooperating with your efforts to persuade her. Though, frankly, you wouldn’t even be able to persuade her in the first place.”

At my words, Liam arched a single eyebrow.

“Are your funds running short?”

Cough, cough!

Jade suddenly burst into a violent fit of coughing, choking heavily on thin air.

The message the empire’s greatest legal mind was trying to convey through his hacking cough was painfully clear.

Why on earth are you suddenly picking a fight with the man, Isabella? probably covered the gist of it.